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Joint Custody Blows.

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Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s. Full summary » | Add synopsis »

Ugh. The other reviews note that this story is based on Noah Baumbach's
own story of his parent's divorce. But if it's true, does that make him
the plagiarizer or the potty-mouthed serial masturbator? It's hard to
imagine anyone wanting to immortalize their family with these sloppily
constructed, clichéd caricatures of the sort of people you might have
found in Park Slope in the 80's. The parents exhibit a reprehensible
lack of concern for their kids as they finally arrive at divorce. The
mother character is not expanded much beyond showing that she bore her
dissatisfaction with her husband by having numerous affairs times
during the course of the marriage. The father character is shown as an
insecure blow-hard, affected more by his wife's professional success
than by her infidelities. The children are, essentially, little
versions of their parents, and are emotionally victimized by each of
the parents in their (supposed) struggle to cope with their divorce.
They develop disturbing habits, which are ill-addressed by the parents
who are too busy wallowing in their own miseries to effectively address
their children's' unspoken cries for help.

This poor character development & over-abundance of unseemly airing of
personal grievance make this film feel like a student film. A BAD
student film.

On the up side, Park Slope was perfectly captured & portrayed,
instantly recognizable. I don't know how a big a deal that is
considering that it hasn't changed all that much since.

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